{"id":12083,"date":"2019-01-09T06:32:19","date_gmt":"2019-01-09T06:32:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dyslexiadaily.com\/blog\/?p=12083"},"modified":"2026-04-10T10:20:57","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T10:20:57","slug":"what-is-a-linguist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dyslexiadaily.com\/blog\/what-is-a-linguist\/","title":{"rendered":"What is a Linguist?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n<p><img style=\"display: none;\" alt=\"\"\/><strong><span style=\"font-size: 200%; font-family: Arial; line-height: 40px; color: #3366ff;\">If you truly want to understand how the English language works\u2026<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: 200%; font-family: Arial; line-height: 40px; color: #3366ff;\">&#8230; spend some time with a linguist(you say it \u201clingwist\u201d).<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"padding-top: 20px;\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: 180%; font-family: Arial; line-height: 32px;\"><strong>A linguist studies \u2018Linguistics\u2019.<\/strong><\/span><\/strong><\/p> \n\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">Yes, I know it all sounds rather confusing but bear with me for a little longer.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">Linguistics is the scientific study of language and its structure.<\/span><\/p> \n\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">It can be broken down into 4 areas and here they are&#8230;<\/span><\/p>\n\n<ul>\n<p><li style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial; margin-left: 15px; line-height: 30px;\"><strong>Morphology<\/strong> \u2013 The study of word forms.<\/li><\/p>\n\n<p><li style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial; margin-left: 15px; line-height: 30px;\"><strong>Syntax<\/strong> \u2013 Rules for the arrangement of words into phrases and sentences.<\/li><\/p><p><li style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial; margin-left: 15px; line-height: 30px;\"><strong>Phonetics<\/strong> \u2013 Letter symbols and their sound relationships.<\/li><\/p>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial; margin-left: 15px;\">And<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial; margin-left: 15px; line-height: 30px;\"><strong>Semantics<\/strong> \u2013 The meaning of the written word.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">When I left university, I can say without a doubt, that I knew all of these terms and their meanings thanks to my excellent Language Arts lecturer, Mary Jones.<\/span><\/p>\n \n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\"><em>\u201cThanks, Mary.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">But what I didn\u2019t know was how to apply this knowledge to the teaching of reading, particularly when there was a child in my class who was struggling to learn to read.<\/span><\/p>\n \n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">That bit I had to figure out for myself\u2026<br \/> and I did\u2026 eventually.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dyslexiadaily.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Liz-Diane.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12084\" width=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.dyslexiadaily.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Liz-Diane.png 396w, https:\/\/www.dyslexiadaily.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Liz-Diane-300x256.png 300w, https:\/\/www.dyslexiadaily.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Liz-Diane-150x128.png 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 396px) 100vw, 396px\" \/><figcaption>Liz Dunoon with linguist Diane Philipson 2011 <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">This is where our teacher training courses are failing our teachers and our students&#8230;<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">This is why struggling learners continue to fall through the gaps in our education system.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">Now I studied teaching back in the late `80s.<\/span><\/p>\n \n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">Recent teaching graduates of today tell me nothing has changed \u2013 they are still none the wiser.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">When I decided to create <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"The Ten Minute Tutor\u2122 (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/thetenminutetutor.com\/close-cart-au\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>The Ten Minute Tutor\u2122<\/strong><\/a>, I didn\u2019t want it to be just another phonics program. Although phonics is a critical component\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">I studied many great phonics programs like Spalding, Toe-By-Toe, Alpha to Omega and too many more to mention here&#8230;<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">\u2026but I learnt more about the teaching of reading and spelling from a linguist, who had heard about my work, contacted me and then flew down from Sydney to work with me and impart upon me her amazing knowledge and her life\u2019s work.<\/span><\/p> \n\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">And I mean her life\u2019s work\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">You see, Diane was ready to retire\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n \n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">At one stage she was single-handedly tutoring 40 students per week. As you can imagine this was unsustainable. She became exhausted&#8230; but she couldn\u2019t just let her work stop\u2026 She knew there were more children to support\u2026 and that\u2019s where I came in.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">Diane was determined for her work to continue and because of this, she gifted her amazing program to me and it became the basis of the <strong>\u2018Phonics\u2019<\/strong> and <strong>\u2018Words and Spelling&#8217;<\/strong> tutorials in <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"The Ten Minute Tutor\u2122 (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/thetenminutetutor.com\/close-cart-au\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>The Ten Minute Tutor\u2122<\/strong><\/a>.<\/span><\/p> \n\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">What an amazing education I received.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">Diane had developed a systematic phonics program with a critical difference, where the sounds of the letters came first and the letter symbols came second.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">Not only that, she used a system of colour for letters in words for those children who were visual learners.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">Using this method, Diane said, <em>\u201cI never had a child I couldn\u2019t teach to read\u201d.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">Over the next 3 years, I created and filmed ten-minute video tutorials and produced the worksheets and Diane checked them for me\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">What an amazing mentor. I will be forever grateful for her generosity. \nDiane can rest assured that her work continues to change lives as part of <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"The Ten Minute Tutor\u2122 (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/thetenminutetutor.com\/close-cart-au\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>The Ten Minute Tutor\u2122<\/strong><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial; margin-left: 15px; line-height: 30px;\">It educates children, teens and adults who find reading and spelling difficult,<\/li>\n<p><li style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial; margin-left: 15px; line-height: 30px;\">Helps parent\u2019s who want to better understand how to support their children<\/li><\/p>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial; margin-left: 15px; margin-left: 30px;\">And<\/span><\/p>\n<ul> \n<li style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial; margin-left: 15px; line-height: 30px;\">Assists schools and teachers who want to know more about the English language and how better to teach reading and spelling to students in their classrooms.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"border: 1px solid #666666; background: #b0ddec; width: 90%; margin: 20px auto; line-height: 1.3; text-align: left; padding: 20px;\"><p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\"><strong>More About Diane<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\"><strong>Diane Philipson<\/strong> began life as a classroom teacher, but soon became disillusioned with the way literacy was being taught and the continual poor student success rate.<\/span><\/p>\n \n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">Seeking solutions, Diane took herself back to university to study linguistics. She is also fluent in 4 foreign languages, so she was mindful of the needs of bilingual children too.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">Fortunately for Diane, dyslexia expert and cognitive scientist, Prof Max Coltheart was one of her Macquarie University lecturers.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">Diane\u2019s passion was realised, she would create a program to support children with literacy difficulties, including dyslexia, and call it the \u2018Sounds of Reading\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n \n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">On its completion, Prof Max Coltheart told Diane this is how literacy should be taught in all schools.<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">Thanks, Diane for helping me to continue to support children, their families and teachers.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">To see Diane\u2019s work in action you will find a sample video of <strong>The Ten Minute Tutor\u2122 <a href=\"https:\/\/thetenminutetutor.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"HERE (opens in a new tab)\">HERE<\/a>.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">Here\u2019s to your child\u2019s literary success.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">Liz Dunoon<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you truly want to understand how the English language works\u2026 &#8230; spend some time with a linguist(you say it \u201clingwist\u201d). A linguist studies \u2018Linguistics\u2019. Yes, I know it all sounds rather confusing but bear with me for a little longer. Linguistics is the scientific study of language and its... <br \/><a class=\"moretag\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dyslexiadaily.com\/blog\/what-is-a-linguist\/\">Continue reading...<\/a>","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":15771,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[92],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-interest"],"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dyslexiadaily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dyslexiadaily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dyslexiadaily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dyslexiadaily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dyslexiadaily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12083"}],"version-history":[{"count":52,"href":"https:\/\/www.dyslexiadaily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12083\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12147,"href":"https:\/\/www.dyslexiadaily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12083\/revisions\/12147"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dyslexiadaily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dyslexiadaily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dyslexiadaily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dyslexiadaily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}